8th Pay Commission: How a ₹69,000 minimum wage demand translates into a proposed ₹1.12 lakh salary; Check calculations
The 8th Pay Commission was constituted by the central government on 3 November 2025. This is a temporary 3-member panel headed by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai. The commission was given 18 months, as per the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the commission, to have a discussion with eligible central government unions, pensioners and associations on aspects such as fitment factor, salary revisions, pension reforms, employee grievances, along with a host of other factors and submit its final report to the central government.
On 3 November 2026, the 8th Pay Commission will complete 12 months of the initially allocated 18 months, as we move towards the final few months before it tables its final report to the central government.
It is vital to keep in mind that, in its most recent meetings in Bengaluru and Mumbai that concluded on 8 October and 23 October, respectively, the commission gave an opportunity for eligible unions to present their views and highlight their chief grievances in order to bring meaningful and positive changes in the lives of the central government employees and pensioners.
Similar meetings have been held across the country over the last few months in states such as West Bengal, New Delhi, and Ladakh. In all these meetings and in the memorandums submitted by prominent employee unions over the last few months, a lot of focus has been placed on key aspects such as basic pay and the fitment factor multiplier.
Some unions, such as the Bharatiya Pratiraksha Mazdoor Sangh (BPMS), have demanded a fitment factor multiplier of 4 to ensure that eligible employees can meaningfully cope with rising inflation.
On similar lines, the Staff Side of the National Council-Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM) has proposed a minimum monthly basic salary of ₹69,000 for central government employees under the 8th Pay Commission. It has also recommended a fitment factor of 3.833. It is this fitment factor which forms the basis of its proposed salary revisions across pay levels.
Still, how does the ₹69,000 minimum wage demand translate into a proposed starting basic salary of ₹1.12 lakh under Pay Scale 3? This article is dedicated to discussing this calculation in detail to better understand the demand for NC-JCM.
In this, the Staff Side calculated the monthly expenditure of a 5-member family. The union factored in basics such as food, clothing, housing, electricity, fuel expenses, water, skill development, recreation, festivals and technology-related expenses, in their calculations.
After taking all these together, the estimated monthly expenditure came to ₹68,947, which was then rounded off to ₹69,000 as the proposed minimum basic pay for Group C employees.
Now, to arrive at this calculation and fitment factor for the same, the Staff Side divided their proposed minimum pay by the existing minimum basic salary under the 7th Pay Commission.
The calculation is as follows:
₹69,000 ÷ ₹18,000 = 3.833
This is how the fitment factor was calculated. Therefore, it is an elaborate calculation that accounts for several factors.
Now, let us discuss how this translates into a ₹1.12 lakh salary. For this, it is vital to understand that the Staff Side has proposed merging existing Levels 4 and 5 into a single Pay Scale 3. In the 7th Pay Commission, Level 4 has a basic pay range of ₹25,500 to ₹81,100, whereas Level 5 ranges from ₹29,200 to ₹92,300. The Staff Side has utilised the Level 5 pay range as the reference for calculating the proposed merged scale.
Therefore, applying the proposed fitment factor of 3.833 to the minimum basic pay of ₹29,200 gives ₹1,11,924, which is rounded off to ₹1.12 lakh. On similar lines, applying it to the maximum basic pay of ₹92,300 gives approximately ₹3.54 lakh.
This is how the calculations are done. However, as of today, these figures are recommendations only. They are not approved salary revisions. The 8th Pay Commission can accept, modify, or reject these proposals as it prepares its final report.
The 8th Pay Commission is expected to table its final report tentatively by May-June 2027. All eligible central government employees and pensioners should, hence, treat these calculations and figures as proposals until then and wait for the official announcements before deciding on a future financial plan for themselves and their families.
Shivam writes on personal finance, equity markets, and mutual funds. He has previously contributed to several leading publications, including Moneycontrol. He can be reached at shivam.shukla@htdigital.in
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HomeMoneyPersonal Finance8th Pay Commission: How a ₹69,000 minimum wage demand translates into a proposed ₹1.12 lakh salary; Check calculations
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